Gushes & rants about the things in our heads

Wolf Hunt by Paige Tyler

A STORM IS BREWING...Remy Boudreaux is back in his hometown, New Orleans. He's there with three of his fellow Dallas SWAT officers for a week of training with the NOLA PD. On the eve of a tropical storm, Remy and his buddies prowl the French Quarter. One tantalizing scent captures Remy's senses, forcing him to follow until he is face to face with Triana Bellamy—his beautiful high school crush.
After reconnecting, Remy and Triana are close—very. Remy struggles to keep things casual. Ever since his partner—and first love—was killed on the job, he's kept women at a distance.
But when a mysterious wolf pendant ropes them both into danger, Remy's protective instincts kick in. He may have to reveal his true self...and hope Triana accepts him.

I started out with high hopes for Paige Tyler’s SWAT series, liking the idea of a police SWAT team comprising alpha wolves and the surprising levity that came with Tyler’s storytelling. The idea has sunk in no…few books later and when it comes to setting up action and suspense, I’d be the first to say that ‘Wolf Hunt’ does well. I liked the New Orleans setting for one—the mystical bits especially seemed to gel quite well with the whole werewolf mythology and the unsolved case of Triana’s father’s murder that fell in line along with it. The bigger plot here is that there is an ongoing drug war that SWAT is facing as they fight to keep it off the streets. The cases are peripherally linked in some ways and Triana’s werewolf father adds a twist to the mix.

There are pitfalls though with this series—which is clearly something that affects just me.

I think the problem is that the idea of the werewolf’s soulmate—at least in Paige Tyler’s mythology—conveniently permits ‘destined’ couples to hook up early and without much of a period where even the possibility of being together is considered. But the insertion of paranormal elements, while exciting, reduces the impact of the romance itself because these elements seem to justify the existence of stereotypical character behaviour in this SWAT series and compromising character depth in favour of plot and action.

Tyler’s SWAT men are macho and testosterone filled—more so because they’re wolves—with a sexual appetite to boot (and therefore can tomcat around because their ‘primal sides’ need it), yet fall prey to the One woman (instant love) who can and will tame them after they’ve sampled all that other women have to offer, succumbing to several of the biggest clichés in romance in one fell swoop. It’s all attributed to fate rather than deliberate thought or action on the part of the characters, which just feels like a rehash of the romance trope of the free-swinging manwhore who is downed by one woman in the end.

In the opening chapters, after a brief explanation of being each other’s high school crushes that ultimately went nowhere, Remy and Triana dance, kiss and already plan for a hookup, effectively cancelling the sexual tension or at least some kind of build-up that could have had the readers on tenterhooks. Much of it is explained as though this hookup is merely a way of seizing the opportunity when they’d missed it so long ago and the chemistry that somehow instantly fizzled between them wasn’t entirely believable, especially not after a huge period of separation and losing touch.

Yet it’s as though the years have disappeared and suddenly, physical attraction is king when Triana is no longer the awkward, gangly girl that Remy can find himself ‘safely’ attracted to. Their background is pretty much angst-free, but I had the feeling that getting Remy and Triana together quickly was something get over with (coupled with typical descriptions that no other woman felt like her despite having slept with plenty), rather than it being the main part of the story, considering the action and the werewolf revelation to come, which made their underdeveloped, straight-to-sex relationship sort of trite.

Remy’s confession that he’d loved her since high school however, ruined the romance for me as it seemed not only to cheapen his previous relationship with Jess (whom he’d first claimed was the love of his life) but also the ‘one true pairing’ with Triana which he didn’t do a thing about back then.

Again, these are clearly my own issues with the SWAT team; ‘Wolf Hunt’ has disappointed me in several ways but my fondness for this series means I can’t quite let it go…just yet.